| Author | Message | ||
     PETER DIXON Frequent User Username: petenlinid Post Number: 21 Registered: 8-2003 |
I am looking at buying a new trolley jack with a lifting capacity of 2.25 tonnes. Would this be strong enough to work on a SS2. Thanks PETER | ||
| Bill Coburn Grand Master Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 393 Registered: 4-2003 |
Peter for the last couple of years I have used a Trade Quip jack with a capacity of 2000Kg and it lifts anything that comes into my garage including the big PVI. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 712 Registered: 4-2003 |
Peter, I use a pair of MVP Superline 2,500kg hydraulic trolley jacks that cost me only about $40 each. As Bill points out, a 2,000kg jack will lift anything on your car, and if the truth be known it will lift loads well above its nominal rating. The whole car only weighs a bit over 2 tonnes. On a single lift at the front, the most you can ever lift is around 1,500kg. Two jacks ? They are so cheap to buy. Use one to lift the car, then place a stand underneath. Leave the jack in place as a backup. The other can be used to raise the motor, suspension or whatever. It also saves a lot of effort to have two fast trolley jacks when rotating tyres or the like. Also, when changing brake pads or the like when it is almost safe to work on a jack, use the second as a safety backup to be sure. RT. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 442 Registered: 4-2003 |
Hi Peter, I have a 2500Kg workshop trolley jack that is somewhat longer and wider than your equivalent discount motor spares product. This makes it more stable when lifting one side of the vehicle and the jack has to be positioned diagonally to allow the handle to be pumped without hitting walls/benches or anything else nearby. What is more important is to buy the best quality car stands to support the vehicle once it is jacked up [none of us work under a car whose sole means of support is a jack do we?] - I use 4000kg truck stands which are very robust and have a wide base footprint for stability - can be a nuisance at times if you need to work close to the support point however I also have a set of smaller 2000Kg stands which I use in multiples in these circumstances. If my memory is reliable, the 4000Kg stands cost around $250 a pair 10 years ago. With stands, the quality of the purchase will be appreciated long after the price is forgotten!! | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 716 Registered: 4-2003 |
Yes David, Good stands are very expensive but last forever. I use cheap jacks and expensive stands. I think my stands in Canberra cost me something outrageous like $300 each in the 1970s. But they do last forever. Trolley jacks were unaffordable until recent years so I used to rent them, but nowadays a quality jack cost next to nothing. Like you say, never work under even a quality jack. | ||
| Phil Black Unregistered guest Posted From: 210.50.248.117 |
I only just saw this subject and should say that from memory that three trolley style jacks have been recalled here in Australia due to weakness and breaking of frame parts and handles even though they were supposed to be to Australian industry quality standard. One type was sold by Repco until they took them off the market and I think they were made in China. (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 722 Registered: 4-2003 |
That's why price and quality of these things are not always related. The Standards Associations are primarily interested in safety in trolley jacks regardless of price or origin. That all of them from the old ASA to ISO to CE to TüV. RT. | ||
| PETER DIXON Frequent User Username: petenlinid Post Number: 26 Registered: 8-2003 |
Thanks for all the advice folks, greatly apprieated. Having now secured auitable vehicle lifting device and supporting equipment I am eady to undertake my first sorte' beneath the vehicle. Not wishing to place myself in the catogory of "if only I'd asked" and also not wishing to state the obvious like not working under car with jack only not using the sump as a jacking point, I would realy appreciate advice on the best and safest places on the vehicle for lifting. I know to all of you this is super basic but then again so am I. Thank Peter | ||
| William H. Trovinger II Prolific User Username: bill_trovinger Post Number: 207 Registered: 8-2003 |
Peter; Better to ask before then asking, “How do I fix it after”. Personally as my floor (trolley) jack does not have a rubber cushion on it’s lift point and as I like to get maximum height when working under I use a 2”x 2” piece of oak on the rear lifts and a 4” x 4 “ piece on front lifts, this keeps from having metal on metal and extends the height of the jack also. To lift the rear I use the trailing arms jacking one side at a time then placing jack stand outward of the hoist. On the front I like jacking from the center where the lower triangle levers meet and attach to the sub-frame. And please remember to block the wheels that are still on the ground. Best of luck, Bill | ||
| PETER DIXON Frequent User Username: petenlinid Post Number: 27 Registered: 8-2003 |
Thanks fot that Bill, my apologies to you and all for the typos in my last post. Its my wife's fault, she knows I shouldn't do wine tastings and typing at the same time. Cheers Peter | ||
| PETER DIXON Frequent User Username: petenlinid Post Number: 28 Registered: 8-2003 |
Bugger, substitute for, for fot in the last post, she definitely has to go. Peter | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 728 Registered: 4-2003 |
Peter, You can always edit your post within 15 minutes of submission. Click the left of the three icons at the top of your post once it has been submitted. Interesting: this exact trolley jack post is presently also active on the RREC message board, and started within hours of the one on this board. RT. | ||
| Bill Coburn Grand Master Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 400 Registered: 4-2003 |
My fourpence worth! I reckon I have spent half my life jacking cars up and down. I long for a good two poster but there is simply not enough room. And so I am now, in some 40 years into my second trolley jack the other one was an APAC that simply wore out. I got myself at the local rubber store (Clarke Rubber) a six inch square pad of rubber an inch thick and this sits on top of the jacking pad. Metal on metal slips or damages. Those horns at the centre of the Shadow's front suspension are treacherous and I have had a car that had the rear wheels braked and not looking jacked up the front and the steel jack pad simply slipped forward because the jack didn't roll back and the car crashed down and dented the grille. Contemplating the Strychnine bottle I had a look and found that I could straighten the damaged bit almost perfectly and it was behind the bumper. The owner was a miserable swine any way so I didn't feel too bad. BUT I never made that mistake again. As to blocking wheels Bill, that needs thinking about. Trolley jacks lift in an arc so either the jack has to move or the car has to move. If the jack's wheels are jamming on an expansion joint on the floor or on cobble stones it is vital to leave the car free to roll. Clearly keep the 'what if' factor in mind and put safety blocks behind or in front of wheels to prevent the car finishing up in the next door neighbour's swimming pool. If I am going to do a lot of work on a car I like it high, as high as I can consistent with being able to stand on a library trolley (the little Daleks for the Dr Who fans) and fiddle with the engine. As to stands, the only ones I have ever covetted were the screwed heavy duty ones. I have never seen them for sale and are what Richard probably bought all those years ago. I now use Chinese 6 ton stands which were not cheap but they are ratchet and Murphy's maxim ensures that just when you have the car up as far as it will go it will be 1mm lower than that required to get the next ratchet up!!! Beware of pipe-like stands. I hope they are no longer available. They were about 2" water pipe or square section welded into a 10" base with no side support. In compression they were probably quite strong but if the car should slip or lurch the whole thing will collapse sideways. My Chinese numbers have four braced feet widely spaced and would handle about a Richter 7 earthquake. Finally where to put the stands. I do not like putting them under suspension members because there is a lack of rigidity through the car sitting on the springs. With pre-Shadow cars the chassis was always there and commonsense indicates the strengthened bits on which to support the car. For later cars the Factory recommends supporting under the sills. For Shadows you need a bevelled block of wood between the jack stand head and the sill otherwise you will certainly damage the sill. Because the ones I use split and the dogs cart them out into the yard and eat them I resort to using the mounting points for the sub frames and use a block of wood to give some 'bite' and prevent damage. The SZ cars however use the sills for jacking so with a small block of wood between the jack head and the flat sill area where the normal car jack fits you have a perfect spot. You will also find evidence that some cretin has put a trolley jack under these spots and bent the vertical locating tang fitted by the factory. These can be straightened with the judicious use of a crow bar and a hammer and dolley. Very lastly, always keep an eye out for large milled blocks of wood. I have half a dozen 6 x 6 X 12 origen blocks I got for nothing from a mill that was closing down. They are beyond the value of rubies. When I get to the limit of the jack height I can use these on the jack head to lift another 6 " obviously with care. All the above is an account of my experience. If you choose to copy it - do so at your own risk and don't come haunting me after you kill yourself!!! | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 729 Registered: 4-2003 |
Yes, Bill, My stands resemble your description. They have a 35cm circular base and a squared U-shaped head. The head cannot slip laterally if you choose a suitable point to place them. On live-axled cars, the U fits positively under the axle tubes by the leaf springs for example. To position them, you screw the head up until the U fouls, then turn the base for the last 2cm or so. I recall that they are rated at 20 Tonnes, and I bought them from a truck tool supplier. They cost a bomb, but are very safe and easy to use. The worst stands are those nasty (K-Mart ?) narrow-based fabricated ones with a pin through the water pipe to set the height. RT. | ||
| William H. Trovinger II Prolific User Username: bill_trovinger Post Number: 208 Registered: 8-2003 |
Bill; Sorry, when I said, "block the wheels" I did mean only behind rear wheels and in front of front wheels. Bad word choice on my part. You do bring up an important safety factor. One should always make sure that nothing is in the way of jack wheels before jacking. Especially when the other end of the car is already up on stands, came close to dumping a car once due to this very reason. Back was already on stands and was cranking away on the jack under the front when a loose stone jammed one wheel (of the jack) and the rear of the car was almost pulled off the stands. As it was my Mother-in-law’s Minivan it would have been a total loss.  Best regards, Bill | ||
| Vladimir Unregistered guest Posted From: 101.168.170.144 |
Bill, I have a 1977 Camargue which I want to put on stands to tamper with the underneath of the car and take the stress off the tyres while I rebuild the engine. I have the front up but the back has me puzzled. Is it damaging to the car to raise the rear with a rubber pad on the jack underneath the diff and put the stands on the flat part of the trailing arms. Vladimir (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 1480 Registered: 4-2003 |
Vladimir/ That should be OK. I suggest you do get a square of one inch thick rubber for the jack head unless you have rubber built into the head. | ||
| Paul Yorke Grand Master Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 958 Registered: 6-2006 |
Vladimir, make sure that it is under the diff and not near the diff carrier. Jack the rear first or the back may be too low to fit the jack under the diff. |
